Weekly What's Up at GUTS (3/3-3/9)

Well, the sun has started to shine a bit, the birds are beginning to do that chirping thing again, and its time for some fun and festivities at GUTS!

First, HIRING HAS BEGUN! Though most of us are graduating in May and will be very sad to leave for everything from the workforce to grad school, we can't wait to meet all the new people that are going to make GUTS even bigger and better next year! We have positions open in every single program, from Academic Match to Foreign Language Learners to a new Webmaster, so everyone is encouraged to apply!

If you want to meet our current staff or know more before applying, come to one of our Info Sessions:

Tuesday, March 8 from 6:00-7:00, SAC 3161
Monday, March 21 from 5:00-6:00, SAC 4201 (Hearing Room)

Conversational English Hour has changed from 6-8 pm to 7-9 pm today because...ITS MARDI GRAS time! CE has partnered with BRIDGE and the D-Squad to bring you a Masquerade Ball in the room across from the CCE! Don't miss out on tons of beads, masks and a whole lot of fun! Next week we'll be talking about language and returning to the usual time.
CE is also looking for more tutors and tutees, so if you're interested at all or know someone that might be, don't hesitate to drop by the office or check out our website!

Idiom of the week: To have two left feet.
Example: Tomorrow at the dance I'll definitely need to take advantage of the free dance lessons because I've got two left feet! My dancing is terrible!

Study Skills is continuing their weekly Study Skills classes. Tonight they'll be here in the GUTS office from 6-7 pm, so come by if you want to learn more or need help with things like note-taking, memorization, time management and more!


McBurney Study and Learning Skills welcomes McBurney students to set up an appointment before midterms. SLSS staff can help with multiple choice test taking, reading strategies, and exam anxiety. Students with a McBurney visa can set up a one-on-one appointment or simply stop by our drop-in session hours on Thursdays from 2:30-4:30, at the McBurney south conference room. Students can stop by the McBurney Center (702 W. Johnson Street, Suite 2104) or email SLSS (guts-slss@rso.wisc.edu) for more information.

Last but not least, the GUTS Conversational English Raffle is still going on! It ends next Thursday, so get your nominations in while you still can! One last time, here's the rules:

For every tutor you refer that CE can match, you will receive one entry into the Refer a Tutor Raffle! All you have to do take a minute to tell someone to join the fun. Anyone involved in any GUTS program is eligible, so don't delay!

Grand Prize: $15 gift card to Downtown Madison
Also prizes for the 2nd and 3rd names drawn!

Rules:
-References must be made between February 10 and March 7, 2011
-To be eligible for the drawing, you must be a tutor or tutee registered with any GUTS program.
-New tutors should record the name of the person who referred them on their registration form when asked "How did you find out about the CE Program?"
-Only new tutors who are matched with a partner can be counted as a recruit
-Raffle winners will be announced Thursday March 10, 2011

So get to it! You can also find out more on our Facebook page!

That's all for this week! Good luck on midterms everyone, and don't forget to go to our Drop In centers if you don't have a tutor and need a little extra help!

Weekly What's Up at GUTS (2/18-2/24)

Hello again everyone! We hope you have all been enjoying the amazingly warm weather this week! Even with the protests at the Capitol, GUTS activities are going on as usual.

In the upcoming weeks, we have some exciting activities from both Conversational English and Study Skills!

Conversational English continues to host their weekly English lessons and Conversational English Hour. Yesterday the Conversation Hour theme was Classic Movie Night. Next Thursday will be Board Game Night! Come learn some new board games like Boggle, Jenga, Charades, Catch Phrase and more! Feel free to bring your own as well. 6 pm under Gordon Commons, you don't want to miss it!

And don't forget about the Conversational English Refer a Tutor Raffle from now to March 10! Here's the deal:

For every tutor you refer that CE can match, you will receive one entry into the Refer a Tutor Raffle! All you have to do take a minute to tell someone to join the fun. Anyone involved in any GUTS program is eligible, so don't delay!

Grand Prize: $15 gift card to Downtown Madison
Also prizes for the 2nd and 3rd names drawn!

Rules:
-References must be made between February 10 and March 7, 2011
-To be eligible for the drawing, you must be a tutor or tutee registered with any GUTS program.
-New tutors should record the name of the person who referred them on their registration form when asked "How did you find out about the CE Program?"
-Only new tutors who are matched with a partner can be counted as a recruit
-Raffle winners will be announced Thursday March 10, 2011

So get to it! You can also find out more on our Facebook page!

Study Skills had a workshop last night and will be hosting another for the Women in Engineering floor in Liz Waters! If you live on this floor and need some study skills help, feel free to drop by! Also, Study Skills lessons start on the 24th! Need more help than just one appointment can provide? Now you can get help every week. Come learn about new techniques for time management, test-taking, staying on track for classes, concentration, note-taking and more! Swing by the office and sign up!

Study Skills McBurney has officially kicked off it's "SLSS Drop-In" sessions for McBurney students who are interested in stopping by for quick studying help at the McBurney Center. The sessions are held by Emily and Maria on Thursdays from 2:30-4:30 in the South Conference Room. Interested students should simply let the front desk know that they are there for SLSS drop-in, and they will be directed to the correct room. They've conducted many student appointments and SmartPen demos this week and are happy to help out any students preparing for midterm exams, so don't hesitate to drop by!

And last but not least, GUTS is going to begin hiring for the 2011-2012 school year by the end of February. Information will be both on the student job center and our website, so don't forget to check back if you're interested and tell all your friends! We have positions available for all programs and all types of people!

That's all for this week guys! Enjoy your weekend and the weather!

Get smarter and study will be easier!

Here are 12 hacks that will amp up your brainpower


1: Distract Yourself

Desperate to memorize a crucial fact? The trick is to distract yourself by studying stuff that's slightly different from whatever you're trying to learn. Your brain will then work harder to permanently store the original information. It's a tricky concept, but here's an example: In 2007, researchers asked UCLA students to try to memorize a set of 48 word pairs (country: Russia, fruit: lemon, flower: lily, etc.). After studying the list, some students then had to sit through a slide show and view closely related material (flower: rose). Guess what? The distracted students performed better on subsequent recall tests. "Distraction forces you to engage in processing," says Benjamin Storm, a UCLA researcher who oversaw the study. Hey, up in the sky — is that a blimp?


2: Caffeinate With Care

Coffee, yerba maté, Red Bull — there's a caffeinated beverage for every demographic. And no wonder: Caffeine jump-starts the body and sharpens the mind. But studies suggest that we Yanks are doing it wrong. For optimal brain gain, regular tea breaks, as favored in the UK, are more effective than a 20-ounce French roast sucked down at Starbucks in lieu of breakfast.
Throughout the day, your noodle fills up with adenosine, a chemical thought to cause mental fatigue. Caffeine blocks the brain's adenosine receptors, countering the chemical's dulling effects. To maximize alertness and minimize jitters, keep those receptors covered with frequent small doses — like a mug of low-caf tea or half a cup of joe — rather than a onetime blast. Test subjects reported that periodic small shots made them feel clearheaded and calm, both of which enhance mental performance. Even better, add a lump of sugar or have a carbohydrate-rich snack at the same time for an extra cognitive kick. It seems that glucose and caffeine together do more to enhance cognition than either does alone.

3: Choose Impressive Information

4. Think Positive

Learning new things actually strengthens your brain — especially when you believe you can learn new things. It's a virtuous circle: When you think you're getting smarter, you study harder, making more nerve-cell connections, which in turn makes you ... smarter. This effect shows up consistently among experimental subjects, from seventh graders to college students to businesspeople. According to studies carried out by Stanford University psychology professor Carol Dweck and others, volunteers with a so-called growth mindset about learning ("persist in the face of setbacks") have more brain plasticity. In other words, their noggins are more adaptable. They exhibit increases in cognitive performance compared with those who have a so-called fixed mindset ("get defensive or give up easily"). "Many people believe they have a fixed level of intelligence, and that's that," Dweck says. "The cure is to change the mindset."


5: Do the Right Drugs

Get to know what does the drug do as well as its side effect.


6: Juice Your IQ Score


7: Know Your Brain

8: Don't Panic

If you're fleeing a cave bear, it's good to be stressed — you'll run faster. If you're stepping onto the set with Alex Trebek, that same anxiety will put your brain in jeopardy. While a little nervousness can boost cognitive performance, periods of intense stress essentially turn us into Neanderthals: The amygdala, known as the fear center, one of the most primitive brain regions, overrides the prefrontal cortex, which handles working memory and executive function. "When those deep brain areas are active, they shanghai your cortical neurons," says psychiatrist Edward Hallowell, author of CrazyBusy. "Your IQ plummets. Your creativity, your sense of humor — all of that disappears. You're stupid." How to quiet your inner caveman? By slowing and synchronizing your pulse and respiration, thus sending a message to your brain that everything is cool. Yoga or power napping could do the trick. Or try the StressEraser, a biofeedback device that suggests a target breathing rate to help you calm down. That should help you nail that Daily Double.

9: Embrace chaos

One way to learn Better: Mix yourself up. That's advice from Robert Bjork, chair of UCLA's psychology department and a leading expert in memory and learning. Volunteers in his experiments exhibited superior recall when they learned information in randomly ordered chunks. For example, he asked subjects in one group to memorize five-letter sequences on a computer keyboard. First they learned one sequence, then moved on to the second, and then the third. Compare that to a second group of volunteers, who practiced the five-letter combos in a random order. When tested, the random group had much better recall — something to remember when you sit down to memorize stolen-base success rates before your next fantasy baseball draft.


10: Get Visual

Images help you to rember things better!

11: Exercise Wisely

Can exercise make you think better? In some cases, yes. Here's what works best.

Aerobic Training

Don't cut that PE class! In 2006, Arthur Kramer of the University of Illinois used MRIs to prove that aerobic exercise builds gray and white matter in the brains of older adults. Later studies found that more aerobically fit grade-schoolers also perform better on cognitive tests

Impact on intelligence: Strong

Lifting Weights
When weight lifters talk about getting huge, they aren't referring to their hippocampus. Researchers have found only the most tenuous link between heavy resistance training and improved cognitive function. Got that, meathead?

Impact on intelligence: Negligible

Yoga

When facing a stressful situation or even a scary email, people often hold their breath. Yoga can break that habit. Under pressure, "most people breathe incorrectly," says Frank Lawlis, a fellow of the American Psychological Association and author of The IQ Answer. The result: more stress and less oxygen to your brain. "So the first thing that goes is your memory."

Impact on intelligence: Possibly strong

Studying on the StairMaster

A spinning class may rev up your mental muscle, but that doesn't mean you should study while huffing and puffing on the StairMaster. Research shows you'll just confuse yourself. "It's like doing something while you're driving," says Charles Hillman, a kinesiology professor at the University of Illinois. In other words, you won't do either task well.

Impact on intelligence: Negligible

12: Slow Down

It should take you two and a half seconds to read this sentence. Any faster and you won't absorb its meaning. The motor response of the retina, and the time it takes the image of a word to travel from the macula to the thalamus to the visual cortex for processing, limits the eye to about 500 words a minute. (That's peak efficiency; the average college student can expect a rate about half that.) "There is no such thing as speed reading," says Keith Rayner a cognitive psychologist at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. "Not if your definition of reading is comprehending text." Studies show that fast readers fare worse than slower ones when questioned about the text. So, to get smarter, slow down. It's even OK

SS: Free Individual study Lesson

What is an individual Study Skills session?
Individual appointments are the most personalized service offered by the Study Skills program. The appointments are free, one-on-one meetings with a trained Study Skills peer advisor that generally last about one hour.

Study Skills appointments are tailored to address your concerns. Specialists can address concerns about a specific class or general study techniques. Some of our most popular options include:

• Working with the student to develop a personalized time management schedule.
• Techniques designed to address test anxiety and exam preparation.
• Learning note taking methods.
  
• Learning efficient reading strategies.
  
• Improving memory and concentration skills.
  

What is a Study Skills workshop?
Campus organizations interested in helping their members improve their study skills can set up workshops for groups of 5 to 150 people. We will tailor to the needs of your group.

During workshops we anwer questions on study skills topics and offer suggestions to better their abilities to "Study Smarter, Not Harder." Workshops can give a broad overview of study skill topics or focus on a specific topic, such as exam preparation.

McBurney Study Skills Service
Students who qualify for services at the McBurney Disability Resource Center can meet with Study Skills specialists on a regular basis to receive on-going assistance. Call 608-263-5177 to schedule an appointment and meet with a study specialist.